Mr Monk And the Comforting Hug
by iloveromance
Summary: When Natalie is terrified after receiving a disturbing package, Adrian finds a way to help her. But in doing so he helps himself as well. A rewrite of a short scene from the episode "Mr. Monk and the Voodoo Curse"


He didn't mean for it to happen, really he didn't. But it did.

It happened in a big way and as he lay in bed, he still couldn't believe it. It was so unlike him and yet he was glad to do it.

He could just imagine how his next session with Dr. Kroger would go. The kind doctor would ask him if anything new had been happening. Adrian would sit quietly, wondering how he could possibly explain what he had done, or even _if_.

After all this was completely new to him and it was something he'd never even dreamed of doing.

Not since Trudy died. She was his whole life and she was gone forever so he didn't see the point. No one ever gave him the chance, until today that is.

Dr. Kroger would be proud... so proud and he might even hug Adrian, an image Adrian didn't want to see. He was definitely not the sort of person who enjoyed hugs. Not much anyway, and not anymore.

Not after Trudy.

Still, more often than not he found himself in the arms of a person he trusted with his life; Natalie. She was definitely a hugger and as much as he wanted to tell her to stop the hugging, he simply couldn't.

Admittedly he liked being hugged, even if he didn't show it. A hug was like a warm blanket on a cold night.

He'd been scared so many times and as always Captain Stottlemeyer had been there with a pat on the back. But the Captain had never hugged him because he knew how much Adrian hated it. Fortunately Randy knew this as well.

Even Sharona had hugged him but not very often. They had an understanding about such things.

But Natalie definitely didn't understand. Not about the hugging anyway. And somehow that was okay because at least she was there for him when no one else was.

She was always the stronger one, always. She was even stronger than Sharona had been and that was saying a lot. He missed Sharona terribly and even now he still didn't understand why she had to leave and take Benjy with her. Or why she had to leave at all.

But most of all he couldn't understand why she would even think of marrying her ex-husband all over again. She hated him! Perhaps she just wanted Benjy to get to know his father.

It made sense... But it hurt him that she left so abruptly. Didn't she know that he needed her? Not in the romantic sense of course but as a nurse and maybe even a friend?

He didn't have many of those... friends that is, but Sharona was one of them.

There was no use dwelling on the past, although he relived the horror of seeing his wife's car exploding from a car bomb every day of his life as though it were yesterday. And then being told that she was gone. It shouldn't have been such a shock, because no one could have survived something like that.

If it weren't for Sharona and Dr. Kroger, he had no idea how he was still in existence. But somehow he was.

And then he met Natalie. She was completely different than anyone he'd ever met and she reminded him of Trudy, if only in the tiniest bit. He'd never tell her of course, but he did mention it to Dr Kroger once. And the kind doctor had been thrilled beyond words. Just as he would be thrilled if Adrian were to tell him what happened today.

It was just an ordinary day; an ordinary case. But he couldn't seem to concentrate. He was worried about Natalie.

For the past several hours, his normally strong assistant had been completely depressed and he wished he knew why. She'd been at murder scenes before; even witnessed them so what was so different about this one? She'd never been one to believe in superstition before so why now?

He wanted to ask her so badly, but he couldn't find the words. And even if he could, he knew that the answer would be the same one shed given him earlier... silence. After several tries of getting her to open up, he relented.

He'd even considered taking her to Dr. Kroger, but unfortunately it was impossible. Every time he tried to call, he was prompted to leave a message. But after 57 phone calls, he could no longer find ways to word his request differently.

So he was on his own. He called Randy practically begging him to take him to Natalie's. He didn't want Randy to know about Natalie's superstition because he could tell that she was ashamed of it, but the Lieutenant was bound to know that something was up. Still, Adrian was grateful that Randy didn't ask any questions.

"We're here. You sure you don't want me to wait for you?"

"No... I'll be fine. I think this might take a while. Natalie said she needed help with... something."

"All right. Well, if you need a ride later give me a call."

Adrian smiled as he peered into the open car window. "Thanks Randy."

Lieutenant Disher might not be too bright at times but he was a good friend.

"Bye!" Randy said with a wave.

"Bye! And thanks again!" Adrian said, waving at Randy as the car disappeared around the corner.

He stood facing the house that he'd been to so many times. But this was far different than any other visit. After several seconds he walked to the front door and rang the doorbell, dismayed when it wasn't answered.

Her car was in the driveway, so she must be home. He tried the doorknob, shocked to find that the door opened easily.

Something was wrong. It wasn't like her to be so careless.

He poked his head in the doorway.

"Natalie, it's me."

When he didn't see her right away he went inside and headed for the kitchen. But there was no sign of her.

He crossed to the living room but stopped in the foyer where to his relief, he found her sitting on the stairs, her head leaning against the wall.

"Feeling better?"

As expected she didn't respond. With a sigh he knew he had to say something to her.

"Look I don't know what's going on with you, but I cannot be the unstable one. I cannot take care of you, okay?"

She brushed away a tear and pointed to the dining room table. He turned and glanced at the shoebox wrapped in brown paper that was addressed to her. It had been opened, the brown paper lying against the table.

And that's when he saw it; the voodoo doll that lay inside with her name on it.

Carefully he picked it up, flinching when the head of the doll dropped onto the table.

"I'm calling the police." He said, reaching for his cell phone. "They'll be here in a few minutes. Was there anything else in the box?"

"No."

"When did it arrive?"

No response. He glanced at the tiny sign that hung from the doll's neck.

"Look Natalie, they misspelled your name! Who does that?"

"The devil." She answered. "What's going to happen to Julie? I don't want to die!"

Now it all made sense.

"Hey, look at me." He said, sounding very much like a parent.

Slowly she turned to him; the tears flowing down her cheeks.

"Natalie, nothing is going to happen. Someone is just trying to scare you. Voodoo isn't real."

"It sure feels real."

"Natalie..."

"When Mitch and I were living an apartment in South Carolina near Mitch's base, our neighbor claimed to be a voodoo priestess. She warned me that Mitch was in danger but I didn't believe her. And the next day he was shot down."

"But Natalie that doesn't mean..."

"Oh God, why are they doing this to me?"

She began to sob and it was more than even Monk could bear. He hurried to the kitchen and grabbed a towel to dry her tears.

If the salt of her tears landed onto the wood of her stairs, it would spell disaster for sure. He'd be forced to get out the wood cleaner and Natalie was not in the right state of mind to tell him where she kept it.

He walked to the stairs and sat down beside her, handing her the towel. As she blotted her eyes he stared at her. He'd never seen her quite so fragile before.

She sobbed into her hands, her entire body trembling with fear.

Instantly his thoughts went back to Trudy and he wondered if she was as terrified as Natalie was. She had no idea what was happening when she got into her car in that garage; no idea that within minutes her life would end. And he found himself wondering what he would have done had she confessed to being terrified of dying.

Before he even realized what he was doing, he'd invited her into his embrace (something he'd never done for anyone) and remained calm while she cried into his shirt.

The shirt would have to be destroyed when he returned home, of course. For there was no way that saline would come out easily. But at that moment, he found that he didn't care.

Natalie held onto him and rubbed his back and if he closed his eyes, he could almost imagine it was Trudy he was holding in his arms.

The sound of a squad car could be heard and then the doorbell rang. Adrian looked at Natalie worriedly and then rose to answer it.

Stottlemeyer and Disher stood in the doorway.

"Where's the box?"

"Over there on the table, Captain."

"Monk, why don't you come with us? I'm sure the police are going to want to talk about what you found."

"But Natalie-."

She smiled through her tears and rose to her feet. "I'll be fine."

"You sure?" Stottlemeyer asked.

Natalie nodded.

"All right, then. Come on Monk."

He followed Randy and Stottlemeyer out the door but stopped when he heard Natalie's voice.

"Mr. Monk?"

He turned to find her smiling at him.

"Yeah?"

And just as he expected, she hugged him.

"Thank you."

"You'll be fine." Adrian said "Don't worry. We'll catch whomever is doing this. Now why don't you go get some rest? I'll get Randy to stay here with you... for protection."

"Okay."

Randy walked in and smiled at Natalie. "If you need anything I'll be right downstairs. Oh, do you have any cookies?"

"In the kitchen." She replied.

"Great! Oh, can I watch the game too?"

"Of course, Randy. Make yourself at home. We'll be fine, Monk. The car's outside waiting for you. I'm sure you're ready to go home."

Adrian glanced at the stairway, where Natalie had just disappeared from view.

"She looked pretty scared." Randy observed. "You think she's gonna be all right?"

Adrian couldn't help but smile, proud of himself for the way he had comforted her and suddenly he couldn't wait to tell Dr. Kroger.

"She'll be all right, won't she?" Randy asked again.

Adrian turned to Randy and then glanced at the stairway once more. "Natalie will be just fine."

**THE END**


End file.
